When large numbers of stackable articles must be transported in large quantities to another location, especially when the article is small, the article may be packaged in a container to protect the article during shipping of the container. Alternately, to reduce the amount of handling required and/or to reduce the amount of shipping material consumed, the articles may be arranged in a tight grouping, or array of articles. Each array of articles can form a layer of articles that can be stacked on a pallet having a footprint which can be accommodated by freight hauling compartments, e.g., for truck, rail, sea or air vessels.
Palletizing articles is becoming increasingly automated in manufacturing facilities, wherein articles are moved via a conveyor, which articles are manipulated by dedicated machinery onto pallets.
Assembly of article arrays is currently performed using conventional bulk palletizers. Most conventional bulk palletizers build the complete article array or bulk array or article layer and then move or “sweep” the completed array layer or bulk array into position onto the finished pallet stack. Palletizing robots are also used, but most palletizing robots also move the completed article layer or bulk array onto the finished pallet stack. Alternately, the palletizing robots construct an article array by placing individual rows of articles to form the array onto the finished pallet stack.
The current state of the art of bulk palletizers includes several vacuum head constructions. One type of vacuum head creates the vacuum from a single opening proximate the center of the head. This type of vacuum head creates a large air flow which cooperates with the containers. The large air flow essentially draws the containers toward the vacuum head. This type of system is unreliable and can only be used with containers with sufficient surface area exposed to the vacuum. Because of these problems, the vacuum blower must be physically large and have a great deal of horse power to operate properly, making it expensive to purchase and to operate. Another type of vacuum head applies the vacuum directly to the containers. A form fitting foam or the like cooperates with each individual container. The vacuum head sucks the air from inside the containers to create a vacuum. This type of vacuum head can cause the walls of the containers to be damaged, i.e. thin walled containers can collapse. The unreliability of both of these systems is of concern. It would therefore be beneficial to develop and use a vacuum head which would distribute the vacuum uniformly to provide better reliability and require a much smaller vacuum blower, thereby reducing cost of operation and increasing reliability.